中国范儿 47 中国玉雕：方寸之间大千世界

　　The history of the Western Civilization was inscribed on the marble, as demonstrated by such well-known marble statues like The Discobolus, Venus de Milo, and David. In the Orient, however, the splendid history of the Chinese Civilization was carved on the jade.　

　　China is a major producer of jade materials and also the stronghold of jade carving art. As a distinctive art and one of the oldest carving varieties in China, jade carving has a long history of over 7000 years. Artisans generally use different skills to cut different kinds of jade materials. Depending on the natural color and texture of the jade materials, they come up with their ideas carefully and carve out the jade painstakingly before they finally become the exquisite artworks.

　　Delicate jade carvings are just lifelike and vivid. They can look still or motional and can be slender or full of momentum. Every exquisite jade carving has a certain kind of subtle elegance behind it.

　　In the Leshou Hall of the Forbidden City, there is a spectacular and exquisitely-carved jade sculpture called "Great Yu Controlling the Floods", a legendary story in ancient China. Viewers can see a landscape of towering mountains, turbulent torrents and waterfalls and giant trees and a troop of laborers, under the leadership of the Great Yu, were tirelessly tunneling through solid rocks and dredging the river.

　　This masterpiece is made from a huge jade rock, which has a weight of over 1000 kg and was mined from Lileta Mountain of Xinjiang, thousands of miles away from Beijing. It was transported to Yangzhou through waterways later. A decade of hard work by thousands of artisans finally turned this rock into a masterpiece. Representing the legendary saga of the Chinese nation that took place thousands of years ago, it is cherished as a national treasure today.

　　Jade has naturally mild textures, which distinguishes it from both hard stones and shining crystals. Just like the solidified white milk, jade is pleasantly soft and warm. No one can tell whether it's jade that has shaped the culture and temperament of the Chinese or it's the Chinese that has chosen jade as the medium for their spiritual pursuit. As an ancient Chinese saying goes, "the morality of an honored man is like the jade". Ancient Chinese projected their understandings of Confucianism on jade and in later days jade became the symbol of a man of honor. In ancient China, various jade ornaments were very popular among the people and men with high respect always kept the jade ornaments with them.

　　As an ancient saying goes, a jade that is never cut will never be of use. The Chinese values jade carvings highly not only because of their elegance but also due to the process by which they are carved out from crude materials. The Chinese gave this process a profound meaning and associated it with finding those honored men who have very high morality but would rather keep a low profile. This deep overtone becomes an ever-lasting spiritual strength and the ceaseless pursuit of the Chinese people.

来源：中国网

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